"I'm freaking out," Abby breathes on the day of the film festival. We're standing in the parking lot of the theater that's holding the festival wearing nice dresses and we're standing with Scott, Jasper, Conner (nobody knows what's going on with him and Jasper anymore but he shows up sometimes), Haven and Felix (made their relationship official the day after the meeting with the board).
"I know," I sigh, putting my hands on her shoulders to calm her down. I adjust my black maxi dress so that my black wedge heels aren't stepping on the hem of the sheer fabric at the bottom of the dress and then look back up at Abby. "But it's going to be okay. We're about to make a wave in society and that is so cool."
"A huge wave," Jasper adds. "A tsunami, really."
"After tonight, when people see Sebastian, they aren't even going to remember his photography career at all, they're just going to say 'Sebastian King, that weird pervert from Atlanta?'." Haven adds with an encouraging nod. "It'll be totally awesome."
"Okay. You're right. We're going to make a wave," Abby breathes and nods before we all start walking into the theater. I keep an arm around her shoulders just to keep her calm. This is her second film festival but her last film was about zombies, not about social injustice and it wasn't meant to have a huge impact on other people's lives.
To be honest, I'm a lot nervous too about this film being publicized at this film festival but I had my nervous breakdown this morning when it was just me and Scott so that Scott could just make out with me and I felt better, just like he did right before the Broken Doll showing. Kissing Scott does have a wonderful calming effect for me. And I have my moon and stars necklace around my neck to keep me calm too, so that helps.
Inside the building, there's a lobby area outside of the theater that has a wall lined with booths that describe each film student that's being displayed at the festival tonight so we go around and look at all of the artists. Each table includes a picture and bio of each film student and then the title, summary, and cover art of the film being shown.
The title for Abby's film is "End the Silence" and the cover art is a picture of a girl standing in underwear and a ripped up t-shirt with tattered hair and a confused/pissed off look on her face. Photographed by me, designed by Jasper. The summary of the pieces reads,
This documentary explores what happens when a student finds out some troublesome secrets and demands justice for those before her. She pushes through many trials that lay ahead of her, including the threat to her career in and out of academics, to find out the truth. She will not let more people suffer no matter what. She will not be quiet. But she can't do it alone and she needs your help. Help her end the silence.
"This is really cool," I say after reading the whole thing.
"You think? I kind of just put together the summary. It could be way better," Abby says with a small shrug. "But thanks."
"Hey, Jo. Isn't that the guy?" Jasper wonders curiously, motioning toward a tall man standing beside a brunette girl as they examine another booth just a few down from Abby's. It's Sebastian and a lady who looks to be about his age but I don't recognize her.
"That's Sebastian," I confirm, surprised that he's here. I feel Scott tense up beside me but I just grab his hand in mine just to make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid or incriminating or both. We then walk together over to where he's standing, just to say hi and everything. "Be good, alright?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Scott grumbles beside me, obviously unhappy but I know that he won't actually do anything if just ask him not to. Especially since I have a strong grip on his hand and he has no choice in the matter.
"Dr. King," I get his attention politely and plaster a fake grin on my face. "It's surprising to see you here."
"Josephine," He offers me an easygoing grin. "Hello. I like to support all of the arts here at the institute when I have the time. I'm surprised to see you taking up a liking to film as well."
"I'm supporting a friend," I say with a nod.
"Ah. Well, this is my sister, Brittney," He introduces me to the brunette beside him and I politely offer her my hand. "And this is my former assistant, Josephine."
"It's so nice to meet you," I tell her. "And this is my boyfriend, Scott. To be honest, Dr. King, I'm really just so excited that you could make it. I've already seen my friend's work and I really think that you're going to enjoy it."
"I usually do enjoy the films that the students put out," He says with a disgusting smile and I want to punch him in the face almost as bad as Scott does, but I refrain only because I know that I'm going to ruin him. His career, his reputation, and that is all just so satisfying to me. "Now, Jo here quit her job a while back but I'm still hoping that she'll come work for me again. The best assistant that I've had in a long time."
I want to barf and Scott starts to react to Sebastian's words, stepping forward a little bit but I just squeeze his hand tighter and he glances over at me. I offer him an encouraging smile and then turn my attention back to Sebastian. "That's so nice of you to say."
"Well, it's true. I wish that I had you back, Jo," Sebastian says, glancing over at Scott before looking at me again.
"Well," I say with a polite smile. "If I ever want to get sexually assaulted again, I'll be sure to give you a call. It was nice catching up with you, but I do believe that the show is going to start soon, so I guess I'll see you in there. Enjoy the show, Dr. King."
Without giving him a moment to respond or to even comprehend what I just said, I turn around and pull Scott with me back to Abby and the others before we all start filing into the room. I invited all of the women that did interviews for the film but we didn't ride with them so they might be here, I'll have to look for them after the show ends.
"That was impressive," Scott compliments me. "But I really hate that man. Especially after what he just said, like it was nothing. I'm lucky that you were holding me down or I would have broken his jaw or something."
"I know," I say with a small laugh, resting my head momentarily on his shoulder. "I appreciate that you didn't do that though."
"You almost punched him? Why didn't you? I think that you should have punched him," Haven tells Scott as we all walk down the aisle of the bustling theater to find a row of empty seats and when we find them, I find myself sitting between Abby and Scott with Haven on the other side of Scott.
"I wouldn't let him," I supply. "I don't want to be dating a criminal."
"Even if I'm a criminal for defending your honor?" He wonders jokingly.
"Yes," I laugh. "I want a boyfriend, not a knight in shining armor."
"Did you tell him what the video was about?" Abby wonders, looking at me with wide nervous eyes.
I shake my head and put a hand on her shoulder in another attempt to soothe her. "Nope, he won't even see it coming. Are your parents here?"
"Yeah, they're with my sister in the back. They got here early and I told them that I wanted to sit with you guys. My parents don't know what the film is about either, they don't know what my sister went through with Sebastian," She explains. "I'll go see them after the show is over."
"Okay, just remember to breathe, alright?" I tell her. "I know that you're freaking out, I am too, just breathe and remember that no matter what happens, everything is going to be alright."
"What if Sebastian tries to come after me? I didn't know that he'd actually be here to watch the video," She vents.
"We're all right here, he can't do anything to you," I assure her. "And besides, we're in a public place. If anything, he'll probably try to come after me sometime, not you. It's fine. You're going to be famous, Abby. Totally famous."
"Okay," She breathes, taking a few deep breaths. "I'm calm now."
"Good," I sigh just as the lights start to dim and then there's an announcer's voice that announces the first film student, who then walks up to the front of the theater with a microphone and gives an introduction to both him and his film before he thanks the audience and then sits back down as we wall watch his short film, which is a Claymation story about a sad meatball that's actually really funny.
There are two more short films before the announcer calls Abby's name and then there's a rather large cheering from the audience, including from me and our row of friends and then I assume that the other loud cheerleaders are the other girls that took part in the film that had showed up to support Abby and this short documentary.
"I just want to say thank you to Jo Mast for pushing me to do something so scandalous and to actually put it up tonight," Abby starts with a microphone in front of her lips. "And it was so much fun working on this film because of all of the amazing people but it was also so emotional and real. I think that I really changed as a person when filming this and I think that's how you know that you're passionate about what you're doing, when you feel changed. Anyway, so this is my film, End the Silence, and by the end of this documentary, I hope that you all can find it in yourselves to help us end the silence."
She gives the microphone back and then heads back to her seat just as the lights go back down and the short film starts. It's edited from the version that I gave the board because this one is more for entertainment along with being educational whereas the one for the board was purely educational.
The opening image is silent and it's the face of one of the girls that I interviewed as she looks straight into the camera. For a moment, nothing happens, we just watch as she studies us, blinking but unmoving. And then it flashes to another headshot of another one of the women doing the same thing.
I wonder if Sebastian recognizes these women already and I wonder if he's getting nervous yet.
When the third face flashes onto the screen, she opens her moth and says, "I'm".
And then it flashes to another one of the women and she says, "Ending."
Another women, "The."
And then another one, "Silence."
Another one, "Silence."
And then the face that showed up first, "Silence."
"I'm ending the silence," The next women says into the camera and then another girl says the same thing before the voices start to overlay rapidly until it sounds like a mumbled mess as the picture blurs into a video of all of the women speaking at the same time before the video divides into even rectangles, showing every single girl that I had interviewed for this film, including myself.
Together, we all simultaneously say, "We are ending the silence. Today."
It then fades away, the screen flashing to me sitting on the couch in my apartment.
"Why are you doing this?" Video-Scott asks me, his voice off camera as he reads what Abby had told him to say. I hadn't seen the script beforehand so that my reactions are more natural so I didn't really know what to expect.
"Because what he is doing is wrong," Video-Me says. "Sebastian King is disgusting, and I'm not going to let him get away with this again."
"Who's Sebastian King? That crab from The Little Mermaid?"
"No," Video-Me giggles. "He's one of the photography chairs and professors at the Art Institute of Atlanta. He's a mentor to a lot of the photography students there."
"Well, then why is he disgusting? He seems pretty nice to me."
"Sebastian King is definitely not nice," I deny. "He's been forcing his students, the students that work for him as personal assistants or TAs, to have sex with him in turn for a good grade and good reviews from him. Even if they don't want to have sex with him, he'll threaten to destroy their grades and reputation if they don't. It's so awful."
"They can just say no, you know. It sounds consensual to me," Video-Scott says from the script and I remember him fake-gagging behind the camera when he read that line.
"It's coerced, not consensual," I say with a shake of my head on the video. "He's not physically forcing these girls but he's still forcing them. He's violating them. It's repulsive. I'm not going to let him get away with it."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to take him down one way or another," I tell him with determination. "I'm not going to let any more girls suffer because of this perverted man. He's not only ruining their confidence in themselves and in their work but he's traumatizing them for life and it's so awful. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do anything about it."
"Why don't you just go to the board and tell them about all of this?"
"I tired! They completely shot me down without even considering firing him because he's too important to the school. Like, I didn't realize that they'd rather protect this monster and sacrifice their students' mental stability and work ethic instead of just firing a man that's been hurting these girls for years. They're almost as bad as he is."
Behind the camera, I remember Abby made the 'cut' signal so she wasn't filming anymore but I can still see myself on screen so that's obviously not the case.
"Was that good?" Video-Me asks Scott, unaware that I was still being filmed.
Scott steps forward into the shot and eagerly presses his lips to mine, also unaware of the film still rolling. "That was great."
I start giggling and then it all fades away as the testimonies start rolling on the screen. Like they did with the video at the board meeting, they start with the oldest and then go through to the newest, ending with me telling my short story.
When the words "Need more proof?" pop up on the screen, I feel confused because I don't remember this part. When I turn to Abby for an explanation, she glances at me sheepishly and I just turn back to the video to see what's going to happen.
There's an audio recording playing and the dialogue is typing out on the screen like they do with 911 calls by printing out what's being said as well as playing the audio. It uses Sebastian's name but it keeps the student's name confidential, although I can put together that the female voice in the recording is Tara even though her voice is distorted.
Sebastian: Stand up.
Student: I don't want to.
Sebastian: I didn't ask for your opinion.
Student: (Sniffling) Please, sir, not today.
Sebastian: Are you forgetting who I am? If you don't stand up in the next ten seconds, I'm going back into my office and I'm going to pull you out of the Lionel Gallery showing. Do you know what that would do to your reputation? To get pulled out of a showing so late in the game?
Student: Please don't.
Sebastian: Then stand. Up.
There's a pause and then a rustling around as Tara obviously stands up.
Sebastian: Don't pretend like you hold any power in this relationship, got it? I own you.
Student: (Crying)
Sebastian: Let me hear you say it.
Student: (Crying) You own me.
Sebastian: And stop with the tears. Now.
Student: I'm sorry, Sir.
Sebastian: Not yet, but I can assure you that you will be. Now, bend over the desk.
Student: (Crying louder) Please, stop! I don't want to.
There's a loud slap sound and then Tara's cries are amplified. I'm actually almost crying myself now, imagining that sweet girl that I'd met a while back looking as scared as she sounds in this audio and it absolutely breaks my heart.
Sebastian: You can say goodbye to that A in my class. Now, I'm not going to ask you again. Bend over. Now, slut!
Her cries get louder just before the audio fades away, which I'm thankful for because I can't listen to any more of that audio. After that, the video goes back to what I recognize as the video that I've watched with Abby before.
"It was me," One of the women said, her headshot back on the screen.
"And then it was me," Another women appeared.
"And then me," Another one said.
"And then it was me," Video-Me adds with a sad expression. "And I never thought that it'd be me. Just like you never think that it can be you, or somebody that you care about."
Another women appears on the screen. "So, who's next?"
"Your daughter?"
"Sister?"
"Best friend?"
"Somebody is next."
"Unless we stop it."
"End."
"The."
"The."
"End the."
"Silence."
"End the silence."
This time, it isn't one of the women, it's Jasper saying, "End the silence."
And then it's Conner and then Noah, Haven, Felix, and then Scott all saying the same thing, their voices overlapping.
At the end, Abby's face appears as the last one on the screen as she ends the video by saying, "We've been silent for too long. It's time for it to end. Help us take Sebastian down by writing to the Art Institute of Atlanta to express to them how wrong it is for Sebastian King to be working with these young women. Your daughters, sisters, friends. End this. End the silence. Thank you."
The video ends and then there's a lot of clapping but mostly everybody is just stunned.
"What was that?" I ask Abby with raised eyebrows.
"I'm sorry," She says quickly. "I knew that you wouldn't agree with it. I bugged his and Tara's offices when you first came to me with the project. I made Tara totally unidentifiable though, and I think it really added to the video. I know that we really need to take him down now though, because what I heard on that audio, it... I literally threw up after listening to it. He's not even human, Jo, I swear. It was awful."
"You shouldn't have done that," I sigh, knowing that Tara doesn't want that stuff public even if she is anonymous. "But it did add to the video, and I guess that it's over now. You really shouldn't have done that though."
I turn around in my seat to see if I can see Sebastian and my eye catches him as he's walking up the aisle of the theater to escape the crowd. I notice that Brittney isn't with him.
"Dr. King," I call out his name, not standing up but I turn to look at him and then everybody else turns their attention to Sebastian as well as he turns to look at me too, glaring at me. "Leaving so soon? But the show is just getting started."
He opens his mouth to say something but when he realizes that everybody around him is getting their phones out to record him right now, he closes it again and then turns and disappears out the door of the theater. More clapping roars as he leaves the theater and I turn to Scott with a wide grin on my face.
"We did it. We really did it," I say with a wide grin, unbelievably relieved that it went over so well with the crowd.
"You did it, babe," Scott assures me, grinning back at me and it's such a beautiful grin but right now isn't the time to swoon over how attractive my boyfriend is. "It was all you."
I know that's not true because Abby and the other women played a huge role in this too and Scott was always there to encourage me even when I felt like I couldn't go any farther. It wasn't just me, but I appreciate the thought.
I feel bad for leaving the theater after Abby's documentary is over, but I do. I want to support the other film students but my mind is buzzing and I'm also starving. Abby stays and moves to the back to sit with her family as the rest of us quickly escape the theater before the next film student starts speaking.
In the car, we all decide to go to the diner downtown, the one that Scott had taken me to after our first date to Gibb's Gardens. I've been nervous about revealing the film all day so I haven't eaten much and now that the adrenaline is wearing off, I'm starving.
"I bet that you guys will be on the news by this weekend," Jasper tells me, sitting on the opposite side of the booth as me. "It was totally badass."
"And that Sebastian guy looked totally freaked out," Scott adds. "He knows that you've got him nailed."
"But where did that audio recording come from?" Jasper asks me. "I thought that we'd seen the finished copy and that wasn't on there, was it?"
"No," I shake my head. "I didn't know about it. I wouldn't have let her put it on there if I did. Poor girl, she doesn't need her business out in public like that, especially not something so awful. But Abby needed her shock factor for the video, I just don't agree with it."
"Anyway," Haven interjects. "Here's to Jo. And to ending the silence."
Everybody raises their water glasses into the air with a cheers and I laugh, taking a sip of my ice water. I glance over at Scott and he's looking at me with the same look that I recognize from the night of the fall expo when we were surrounded by his family and my friends and family, and he was looking at me with so much pride. He was so proud of me, proud to be with me.
I don't know why, but the sense of pride in myself that I get just by the way that he looks at me like that, it's kind of the best feeling in the world and I never want to let it go.